Carton divider



J. RICCARDI CARTON DIVIDER June 7, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 28, 1955 iii! KMLEi-Illibv 1 INVENTOR. Joy/vi R/CCARO/ ATTOR/VE S June 7, 1960 J. RICCARDI CARTON DIVIDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 28, 1955 INVEVTOR.

JON/V R/CCHRD-l CARTON DIVIDER I John Riccardi, 640 w. Chicago, Blvd, Detroit, Mich.

Filed Mar. 28, 1955, Ser. No. 496,987 g 1 Claim; 01. 229-42 This invention relates-to dividers of the type employed in corrugated shipping cartons and has for its principal 'it Statf Pate-Intro without enlarging, or in any way changing, the construcobject to provide divider means for a carton primarily used for the shipping of liquid containers of a predetermined liquid volumetric capacity so that sample containers of smaller volumetric capacity may be packed within the main carton. It is the practice for manufaction of the main carton, or the eifectiveness of the protective functioning of the divider means for the main containers in said carton.

The. present invention is intended for use with a plurality ofmain liquid containers or bottles each having a main'cylindrical body, a reduced neck and a flared portion connecting said body and neck and briefly consists in improving upon the conventional prior divider means by forming the longitudinal sub-divider, that extends between two adjacent longitudinal rows of main containers placed vertically in the carton, so that end portions of its upper edge provide supports for the body portions of a pair of auxiliary containers, of similar shape to said main containers, when placed horizontally within the carton and nested within the space between the reduced necks of said two adjacent longitudinal rows of main containers, thereby to make the fullest possible use of shipping space within the carton that would otherwise be unused.

. .The upper edge of said longitudinal sub-divider is also formed with-a central upwardly projecting portion that serves as a support for the reduced necks of said pair of auxiliary containers, while an inclined portion of said edge extending each end portion and said central portion acts as anfabutment which, with an end Wall of is however subject to the objections of higher costs,- increases diificulty inhandling and stacking the and breakage of the sample containers.

The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of divider means for use in shipping-carcartons,

tons of oblong, horizontal, cross sectional shape adapted to hold a plurality of main liquid containers; said 'divider means being so constructed and arranged that smaller sized sample bottles may be nested within the main carton and supported therein by the divider means. f

It has heretofore been the practice to employ'a more or less conventional type of carton divider meanswhich serves not only to dividethe carton into a plurality of vertical compartments, but also acts as a buifer between adjacent containers. Such conventional dividers consist of a U-shaped main divider that extends transversely of the carton and a sub-divider that extends longitudinally thereof. The main divider is preferably constructed of suitable heavy cardboard or corrugated paper board made out of a fiat sheet of material and provided with scored lines to facilitate the bending of the sheet to form the bottom and a pair of side walls of the main dividing member. Slots are kerfed into the upper edges of said side walls midway between the ends thereof; The longitudinal sub-dividing member is also provided with slots,

open at the bottom, and the transverse and longitudinal dividing members are assembled in interlockingengagement, with the side walls of the U-shaped member received Within the slots of the longitudinal member and with the longitudinal member engaged in the upwardly open side wall slots of the transverse member.

the divider means acts to providefsupport's -for"holding smaller auxiliary or sample containers within the carton Figs. 5 and 6 nested in interlocked cooperative relation the carton, prevents or restricts longitudinal movement of the auxiliary containers within the carton. The side walls of the main transverse divider are also provided with openings adjacent to the upwardly projecting central portion of said longitudinal subdivider into which the reduced necks of said auxiliary containers are received; each of saidopenings being formed by pairs of hinged flaps struck'out and bent from said side walls so. that'the free ends of said flaps are adapted to engage the reduced necks of said auxiliary containers and pre-v Vent lateral movement thereof. 7 "f'Byway of example, and not in a limiting sense, the invention has been illustrated as applied to a carton and divider. means therefor particularly adapted for containing half-gallon main liquid containers; the divider means shown being adapted to hold two auxiliary pint size containers. 1 u

Referring to the drawings, wherein I have shown a constructional example of a device that has been proven highly'successful in actual practice.

Fig. 1 is a horizontal section on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2 of a carton and divider means subdividing the carton into six equal sized vertical compartments for holding a like number of main containers therein and having two pint sized auxiliary containers supported in a hori-' zontal position therein;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; I

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig.4'is a sectional detail taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. l; I Fig. 5 is a'plan'view of a sheet'of cardboard or corrugated paper board employed for forming the transverse U-shaped main divider; Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a longitudinal subdividing member adapted. to cooperate with the member shown in Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the member shown in ship; and I Figs. 8 and 9 are similar perspective views of'modi'; fieddivider constructions. v

'As shown in the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates generally a carton which, as shown in Fig. 1, is of oblong horizontal, cross-sectional shape havingloiigitudinI Patented June 7, 1960 side walls and end walls 10b. Divider means for dividing the interior of a carton into a number of equal sized vertical compartments consists of a transverse main divider formed out of a flat sheet ofcardboard or corrugated paper board. The sheet '15 while inflat condition is provided with score lines 16 to 'facilitate folding of the sheet to form a 'U-shaped main dividenmemher, having a bottom wall 18 and the pair of laterally spaced side Walls '17. The Width of the sheet '15 dimcnsioned so that when folded into U-shape it will fit neatly within the carton 10 to extend transversely be tween the pair of longitudinal side walls1'0a thereof. It will be noted that each of the side wallportions 17 is provided with slots 19 extending inwardly from the edges thereof and so that when the sheet is folded to provide the main U-shaped transverse divider, the slots 19 'will be open at the top ends thereof. A pair of scored lines 2%? are formed at each end of the sheet- 15 to provide a pair of bendable flaps 21 midway between the ends and at the top of the laterally spaced side walls '17 of'the U-shaped transverse member, as shownbest in Fig. 7; the sheet being cut through as indicated at 2 to facilitate the bending of the sheet material toform the flaps 21. A longitudinal sub-divideralso formedof a flat sheet of cardboard or corrugated paperboard 25 is provided with a pair of slots 26 that extend inwardly from the bottom edge thereof. These slots 26 are spaced from each other a distance equal to the space 'offthe side walls t7 when said side walls are bent to form the U-shaped main divider. After the divider so formed has been bent into the -U-shape, the longitudinal subdivider 25 is nested therewith in interlocked engagement by assembling the parts in the mannershown in Fig. 7.

As will be noted from Fig. 7 each of the slots "26 of the longitudinal sub-divider 25 straddles a lower portion of a wall 17 of the transverse main divider while the slots '19 that are provided in the side walls 17 and are open at the top thereof straddle the top portions-of the longitudinal member 25 above the inner end of the slots 26. As best shown in Figs. 4 and 6, the longitudinal subdivider 25 is provided at a point midway between its ends with an upwardly projecting portion 27v which extends above the end portions 28 of said-sheet and which has the inclined portions 29 extending between the central portion 27 and the end portions 28. As hereinbefore pointed out the carton divider means herein disclosed is constructed and arranged so that when the assembled U-shaped member formed of the sheet 15 is bent into the U-form and the sub-dividing member 25 'is nested in interlocked engagement therewith, the assembled members can readily be inserted within the open'top of a carton and will divide the carton into six equal vertical compartments, each of which is adapted to receive a main container indicated generally by the reference numeral 30. Each of these main containers consist of a main body portion 30a of cylindrical shape, a reduced neck Sti l) and a flared portion 300 connecting the reduced neck 3% and main body portion 30a.

After the carton divider means have been assembled in interlocked engagement as shown in Fig. 7- and with the flaps 21 at the center of each top .wall 17 bent inwardly toward each other as also shown in such figure, the assembly is placed in the open-top of a carton 1i and divides the carton into six equal vertical-compartments and the requisite number of main containers 30 arcplaced, one to each compartment in a vertical position therein; the dividing walls which define said compaitrnents acting as a buffer between adjacent containers. As'shown'in Figs. 1 to 4 there is sufiicient freespace between the reduced neck 3% and flared portions 36c of'the main containers which form two adjacent longitudinal rows in the carton, to receive apair of auxiliary containers 40, each of which is of the same general configuration as the main container; each auxiliary con ass-noes tainer having a main cylindrical body portion 4%, a reduced neck 40b and a flared portion 490 connecting the reduced neck 4% and main body portion 40a.

The divider means of the present invention is constructed and arranged to hold a pair of auxiliary con tainers in a horizontal position within the carton 16 after the requisite number of main containers have been placed therein. Each auxiliary container has its main body portion preferably wrapped or enclosed within a cylindrical sheet of cardboard 41. After the cardboard has been wrapped about the pair of auxiliary containers 4% they are placed :in a horizontal position in "the carton with the main body portions 40a thereof supported by the flared portions 300 of 'a pair of "adjacent main containers and with the main body portions 4hr; of the pair of auxiliary containers resting upon the top edges of the end portions 28 of the longitudinal extending sub-divider 25 and with the reduced neck portions 49b of the auxiliary containers inserted into the openings 21a of the side walls 17 and resting upon the upwardly extending center portion 27 of the longitudinal sub-divider 25. .It will be noted by referring to Figs. 1 to 4 that the :free edges of the flaps 21 engage the flared portions 460 of the auxiliary containers just behind the closure caps 42 screwed or otherwise fastened on the reducedneckportions 40b of said auxiliary containers and .thus serve .to prevent or restrict lateral movement thereof.

As will. be seen fromthe foregoing description and by reference to the accompanying drawings, when a pair of auxiliary containers are placed Within-thecarton .in a horizontal position, the main cylindrical bodyportion of eachauxiliary container is supported along three linear spaced areas; one formed by the top edge ofi the end portions 28 of member'25 in axial alignment with a central vertical diametral plane passing through the center of the main body portion of each auxiliary tcontainer 40a and-two linear supporting surfaces spaced laterally therefrom and formed by the flared portions .30cof'an adjacent pair of main containersat the ends of each 10f the longitudinal rows of the main containers Withuthe carton.

When the auxiliary containers are placed :in position, one at each end of the carton'between the endzmainccontainers .in-the two adjacent longitudinal rows, thebottom of each auxiliarycontainer is in contacting engagement with the inner face of an end wall 10b of thecarton, while the flared end 400 of each auxiliary container will be in snug contacting engagement with one of :the inclined edges 29 of the central longitudinal sub-dividing member 25 thereby to prevent longitudinal movement of the auxiliary container within the carton during fthe handling and shipping thereof.

The engagement of the free edges of the flaps '21 with the reduced neck portions 49b of the auxiliary containers-together with the engagement of the main bodyzportion 40a of the auxiliary containers with the laterally spaced flared portions 300 of an end pair of main containers 30 in adjacent'horizontal rows will prevent :lateral displacement of the auxiliary containers ,d-uring the handling and shipping.

In the modification of Fig. 8, divider sections similar to those of Fig. 7 are employed with the exception that the raised center portion 27 of the longitudinal subdivider 25 is omitted and a channel section Sii replaces the individual cylindrical bottle wraps 41. A fold 5,1 in-the center strip joining the channel ends serves as an additional element preventing end contact of the sample bottles nested in the channel sections supplementing the restraining efiect of the flaps 52 which tend to prevent such contact. 7

The. modification ofFign 9 employs foreshortened :di-. vider.elements. 53 which omit the flaps 21 of .Fig. '7; and apairof subdivider elements 54 are scored at 55 topro vide a .V trough when sample bottles are pressedinto position. .In this modificatiomirictional engagemenuof 5' a the sample bottles with such trough and with the top of the carton when folded down are depended upon to prevent longitudinal movement. This construction is preferred from the standpoint of minimizing die cuts in the fabricating operation as well as from the standpoint of facilitating packing operations.

While I have shown several constructional examples of the invention which have proven highly satisfactory in actual use, it will of course be understood that many changes, variations and modifications thereof may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claim hereunto appended.

Iclaim: I

In a shipping carton of the class described, a carton divider comprising transverse and longitudinal divider sections adapted to separate relatively large bottles having necked portions, and a trough section adapted to receive relatively small bottles laid on their sides in the top of the carton between the necked portions of said large bottles, at least one of said divider sections comprising a pair of parallel flat divider elements in contiguous relationship throughout the area of separation of the unnecked portions of said large bottles, said divider elements being free of interconnection at the top .and separated to form said trough section the entire surface of which extends substantially to the extremities of said carton.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

